Just want to double check what I need, any help would be great

Well, I have spent hours reading through the different posts on this site and needless to say there is an endless amount of information. Minion, you must be the nicest person on earth for answering so many of these questions for people like me who are new to this. Even with all of this info, I am still a bit confused (mostly about the best software to use) and just want to double check my current set-up and things I am considering getting.

I want to capture video from both my old Sony Hi-8 video camera and my newer digital video camera (Sony DCR-TRV50) and burn them to DVD for play on set top DVD players.

My PC is:

P4(HT) 2.6 GHz
512 MB RAM
Video – NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (128 MB)
Audio – Creative Soundblaster Live
80 GB hard drive (for OS and Apps)

I just purchased this week:

Plextor DVD Burner (Model PX-708A)
Maxtor Ultra ATA/133 160 GB hard drive (for data, including the video files I am hoping to create)

I am getting in the next couple of days:

Canopus AVEDVio analog/digital capture card

What are the best additional software applications that this set-up will require? From what I have read in this forum I will need something to:

1. Capture the video

2. Edit the video

3. Encode the .avi file to mpeg2/dvd format

4. Author the DVD

I would like to get as high a quality as I can as a lot of my old Hi-8 tapes are of my daughter being born through age 5. That being said, I would also like to do it in the most affordable route I can, especially since I have just spent $400 on the new hardware (DVD Drive, Hard Drive, and Video capture card) for this project. Another thing I would like to do is to be able to burn DVD’s that will play in countries that use PAL. I am in the US, but my in-laws are in Australia and I would like to burn DVD’s of my kids and send them over to them. Any suggestions for software that will do that would be appreciated as well. Thanks in advance to anyone who has any suggestions.

Cheers,

Steve

 

Well I guess it depends on what type of editing you are going to be doing...If you want to add filters and effects and Transitions to your Video then a Good editor like Adobe Premier Pro or Vegas Video 5 or Ulead Media Studio pro would be good because they can capture and edit and they have good quality effects and filters, They are also a Bit complicated to learn but isn"t all good software that way...These Programs are also fairly expensive.....
If you want to make Pal DVD for use in Europe you will either need a good Editing program that can convert NTSC to pal or a Good Mpeg encoder like "Canopus Procoder" that can do proper NTSC/Pal conversions while encodeing to Mpeg2 for DVD....
As for a DVD Authoring Program it also depends on the Complexity of the DVD you want to make.....
For most Basic DVD"s I use "DVD-Lab" but for more complex DVD"s I use something like "Ulead DVD Workshop 2.0" or "Sonic ReelDVD".......

Cheers

 

Hey Minion,

Thanks for the reply. A few follow up questions. In regards to the good editors (Adobe Premier Pro or Vegas Video 5 or Ulead Media Studio pro) you mentioned, Can they also encode the .avi file to mpeg2/dvd format or is an encoder also needed? Also you mentioned that a good editing program could convert NTSC to PAL, Do any/all of these applications you mentioned have this capability?

In regards to the type of editing I will be doing, I am guessing it will be initially pretty basic, but as I go along I will possibly start doing more advanced stuff as I get the hang of it.